When we checked in with the Johnnies’ Tournament chances yesterday, Joe Lunardi had them on his bracket and seeded tenth. But losses like last night’s won’t keep them there for long: Down in Washington, No. 21 Georgetown — a team St. John’s defeated at the Garden earlier this month — routed the Red Storm, 77–52, sending Steve Lavin’s team to its fifth loss in six games. Worse still: Two of the last three have been by more than twenty points.
It wasn’t long ago that St. John’s was off to its best conference start in over a decade — the kind that not only put them in good position to be selected for the NCAA Tournament, but also had us keeping an eye on the number of votes they received in the weekly AP poll. Now, they’re just 4–5 in Big East play. The good news for St. John’s? They’ll return home for the final game of a brutal January stretch in which they play eight straight games against ranked opponents. The bad news? If they’re to improve upon their 2–5 record in those games, they’ll need to do it against No. 3 Duke.
St. John’s routed by Georgetown [NYP]
Georgetown Hoyas rout slumping St. John’s, 77-52, as Red Storm falls below .500 in Big East [NYDN]